Get Set for Summer Games Done Quick 2014 This June

This June, from the 22nd to the 28th, the speedrunning community is once again coming together to raise money for Doctors Without Borders. The popular Summer Games Done Quick live marathon, hosted by Speed Demos Archive, is bringing together the best speedrunners of dozens of games, including five Zelda games, keeping people up all night to see their favorite games glitched, exploited and pushed to their limits. But the runners never stop there. Memes, races, donation incentives, prizes, and more will return for a whole week of literally non-stop entertainment.

Check out the details after the jump!

For anyone not familiar with the subject, speedrunning is playing through a game in a certain way, trying to get through it as fast as possible. There are several categories of speedrunning, most of which you are going to see in Summer Games Done Quick 2014. 100%, any%, glitch runs, hard mode, co-op, sequence breaking, tool-assisted, and plenty of game-specific styles of runs. If you have a favorite game, it most likely has its own speedrun with it’s own style – one that you can likely find on the Speed Demos Archive website, or other speedrun community sites.

Here is an example of the ridiculousness that comes from speedrunning. This is the popular Zelda speedrunner Cosmo breaking The Wind Waker in ways most players never dreamed of:

Games Done Quick itself is a live-streamed semi-annual get-together of the best and brightest of speedrunners, as well as avid speedrunning fans that booked a flight and reserved a hotel room at their venue, which, this time around, will be the Crowne Plaza (DIA) Hotel Denver, Colorado. This month’s stream will be the Summer edition of the marathon, which may not be as popular as the January edition, but loads of fun is still going to be had.

Donations are the obvious high point of the marathon, but what’s just as great is what comes with the donations. Whether you are sharing your personal story of why you want to donate, or if you are trying to get in on some prizes, any donation is a good one! Whenever someone donates, they can leave a comment to be read during the stream, and depending on how much you donate and what speedrun you donate during, you could be entered to win some awesome prizes, from perler bead creations to sealed classic game cartridges. There is sure to be a grand prize, and they have been pretty great in the past, so think about donating a bit more once you find out what it is this time around.

Also look out for the constantly updating donation incentives. You can pay to see anything from a runner’s song and dance to seeing an extra game played. All prizes and incentives are unknown at this point, but they will be revealed once the stream starts, as well as the exact methods of donating.

The runs themselves will be of games from loads of different game series, and a bunch of games you may not even be familiar with. If you want to see runs of Super Mario Bros., Metroid, Megaman, Sonic, Kirby, Castlevania or some other popular series, you should check out the stream. Make sure to take a look at the full schedule of games to allocate some time out of your week to watch. Also remember that the schedule is definitely subject to change, as speedruns will not take the exact time estimated on the schedule.

For those only interested in Zelda, here are the scheduling details of the Zelda games throughout the week:

– 6/23/2014 11:30:00 PM: Four Swords Adventures, run by Zmaster91
– 6/26/2014 4:40:00 PM: Oracle of Seasons vs. Oracle of Ages bid war, run by Bananas or Yashichi
– 6/27/2014 2:15:00 AM: Skyward Sword, run by TLoZSR, Testrunner
– 6/28/2014 5:50:00 PM: A Link to the Past, run by Jadin
– 6/28/2014 6:35:00 PM: A Link Between Worlds, run by Zandergoth

Also be aware that at the end of the marathon, a bonus stream will begin, and who knows what games might be played at that point!

The full details will be made clear once the marathon itself starts, so look out for the stream on Speed Demos Archive’s website. If you want some examples of what to expect when watching the marathon, check out their YouTube channel for speedruns from past streams.

So, what do you guys think? Are you ready for a whole week of live runs and fun times? Leave a comment below!

Source: Games Done Quick